


A Great Loss

by sottovocexo



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Grief/Mourning, Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:35:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25131742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sottovocexo/pseuds/sottovocexo
Summary: Peggy mourns Daniel's loss, the loss of a great man, another picture for her desk. [SPOILERS for Daniel's new storyline in Agents of SHIELD]
Relationships: Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	A Great Loss

She doesn't remember receiving the news. She doesn't remember much about that day in total. The next thing she knows, she's on a cross-country flight to LA, headed to pack up his belongings.

She does it because she doesn't want to see anything get trashed. She does it because she still thinks of that day in the SSR storage room, when he told her the chaplain had gotten rid of everything he had. With his family gone, with no significant other around (so she'd heard), she didn't trust anyone else on the job.

But she waited. In the field hospital, he'd survived, even though they'd already emptied his footlocker. She waited a good week before flying out, just in case he came back. That would have been convenient.

Jarvis drives her to Daniel's house. It's the same one he's lived in since he was Chief of the LA SSR, now Chief of the West Coast Bureau of SHIELD. It was so like him, she thought with a laugh, as she crossed through the door. He was simple then and clearly stayed that way. He probably didn't see any practical reason for more space, not without a wife or kids, not when it was only him. Practical, dutiful, wonderful Daniel.

From the doorway, she tells Jarvis to wait in the car, she won't be long. She's already arranged for a storage unit for the bulk of his belongings. She'd prepared it all before leaving for LA.

"Then why are you here?" Jarvis asks her before she steps inside.

"Because...there are some things I want for myself," she says after some hesitation.

The living room, the kitchen, the dining room: they look untouched, frozen in time. Exactly as he'd left them a few days ago. Neat, tidy, orderly, like he didn't spend much time at home anyway, not when work was so important, not when there was no one important around.

She takes a deep breath and enters his office. When he wasn't at the LA branch, he was probably here, she surmises, given all the paperwork strewn about, all the files. She recognizes a few trinkets from his first office--the globe, the cap, the bell--and it makes her smile.

Taking a seat at his desk, she begins opening all his drawers, making sure nothing confidential or personal is left behind for the movers to take to the storage unit. The final drawer she opens doesn't slide smoothly, like it hadn't been opened recently. It sticks like it a lockbox that needs a key. But when she pries it open, she finds a picture inside, a laminate card from Jack Thompson's funeral, the kind they present for you to take home so you never forget the deceased. As if she could forget the unforgettable Jack Thompson.

_The day was gray. That is the first thing that comes to mind when she thinks of Jack's funeral. Daniel and Peggy arrived together and remained close through the service. Professional, but close, because she didn't think she could make it through the day on her own._

_Daniel had to deliver a few words. They were dutiful--he was always so dutiful--but they were personal too. Daniel did love Jack. They were close, despite what Jack had put him through. "Once a soldier, always a soldier," Daniel said from the pulpit. "Jack gave his life for his country, a little later than the older soldiers, and sooner still than the rest of us. He should be with us today. Let’s not forget what he’s done."_

_"He was a good man," Daniel said firmly after the service, squeezing Peggy's hand tightly. He didn't mean in every way. He meant overall._

_"He was," Peggy whispered._

And it makes her angry. She's angry that a good man gets a funeral, but a great one gets left facedown in a pool. That a good man gets goodbyes, but a great one gets taken out of time.

She slams the drawer shut and curls up on his chair, letting loose all her tears for Daniel.

When Jarvis enters the room, her forehead is to her knees, her tears sliding down her legs.

"Are you ready, Miss Carter?" he asks quietly.

She glances back at the room, so much like his office at the LA SSR. At the last moment, she swipes the picture frame he kept behind his desk once upon a time, the one of him in the war with the other soldiers. Yet another photograph for her desk.

When she's back at SHIELD, she stands it besides Steve's, keeps them both in the same place in her heart.

There is never a good time to lose a love, but it seems a hero is always born on time. Steve arrived when the world needed him and didn't leave any sooner. It's the same for Daniel, she tells herself. She will make it so. She is sure to tell his story. To get him in every SHIELD history book, on the wall of every headquarters. Every recruit will know his name.

The name of a good man endures; the name of a great one inspires.


End file.
